Subject Change

Thanks to those of you who have said something to me about this blog...I do it more for myself than anything, but it is nice to know I'm not writing into the black hole of the Internet.
Just to recap from the last entry before I change the subject, I have started reading Kyle's book - (re)understanding prayer but it's been hard. He writes a lot of personal stories and he finished this book and had it published just before he died. But I'm glad I've started and I'm trying. I hope to write more about that soon...I have another therapy session soon.
So, I thought I'd get a little political. Dangerous, huh?!
I recently had a good friend ask me on Facebook how I could be an Obama supporter since he is pro-choice. She felt very strongly about struggling with supporting him since he accepts abortion. I thought I would post my response to her here, and I would love to hear your thoughts as well. Do try to keep them respectful and non-judgemental if possible. And maybe I'll write more to my reasons for being such a huge Obama fan.

"I guess it's important to share where I am coming from before I just state my bottom line - which is that I chose Obama based on his governing issues not his moral ones.

I see issues like abortion, homosexuality, pornography, religion, etc as moral issues, not governmental issues. I don't think our government can solve these problems - they are for the church to discuss, teach, challenge and ultimately change - through our relationships and missions with our communities. I recognize that they are not issues in a void - meaning our govt must have some role (i.e Roe vs Wade and whether same-sex marriages are legally binding documents, etc, usually played out in court) but I think that our leaders cannot be reduced to a yes or no checklist of moral controversies.

Ultimately, I value the separation of church and state to an extreme, some would say. I am less concerned about my leader's religious roles than I am about his or her policies and projects (and would actually lean more towards someone who's policies and projects are not a goal of their religion). We see examples of the marriage of church and state in disastrous places like Iraq and Iran where extremism is allowed the role of ruling because there is no separating.
I know that conservative Christians often have a hard understanding this - they think that this means that leaders could take us to a place of extreme secularism and remove God from everything (i.e. the fear of no prayer in school or removing "in God we trust" from money and pledge), but this is where I say so what if they do? What a great challenge and opportunity for the church! We are never going to be a nation where the church is silenced...in thinking of China...its value is already accepted amongst the heavy majority of our people. And even if we do end up in extreme secularism (like Europe), the people of the church have always been more committed when they are persecuted. Jesus told us we would be...so if we're not...maybe we're
doing something wrong.

So my background is to come to the candidate for how they would govern and what they see as major policy changes and goals for their term as president. This is how I made my decision to vote for Obama - I studied his policies and I liked what I saw. I don't agree with everything (it's not possible to have that "perfect" of a candidate), but I am challenged by his message of hope and I'm praying it will make a difference in our nation, esp with racial reconciliation, a widening of the middle class and our international standing.

If you want to talk about this issue of abortion itself, then in comparing the candidates, I still would vote for Obama. The irony, to me, is that Obama may actually reduce more abortions than McCain's presidency would have. Obama is pro-choice, not pro-abortion. He doesn't want there to be abortion, but he recognizes that we must allow women the right to choose. I see his desire to provide health care for children, provide an education up through college for all, provide better sex-education for teenagers, provide more jobs and better salaries - esp for women, and provide hope esp to minorities - I see all of these as a way to end abortions. Women often make this choice out of desperation...if they have more money, better education and see the choice of raising a baby as a single mother as an option, they may not choose to end the pregnancy.

But even considering all of that, I still say this is a challenge for the church. We have to ask ourselves...what are we actually doing to help women make a choice NOT to have an abortion? I say if this is an issue you feel strongly enough about to use to choose your next leader, then it is probably a prompting from the Holy Spirit to do something about it. And I don't mean holding signs in front of Planned Parenthood.
I think we ask ourselves, what can we do to help teenagers see there is an option other than sex to feel loved and belonging (i.e. get involved working with your youth program at church or in your schools as a mentor)?
What can we do to help support single mothers (i.e. find service outlets like home repair, child care, transportation, meals to bring to these women)?
What can we do to welcome in children of ALL backgrounds (i.e. more than just VBS - our SS classes, programs, etc should have different types of kids - not all affluent white kids, and we should be serving in the schools - including having our children mixed with all kinds of kids in their classes)?
What can we do to create an atmosphere of acceptance, love and forgiveness for those who are facing difficult decisions?
And so on....so to me, this is a church issue, not a govt one and so I don't make my decision for my President based on how he views abortion.

I know this prompts all kinds of other conversations - but you didn't ask for more than this and I've already written a book! If you think of more, please respond! I want to create open dialogue where we can have a difference of option if needed and can share our thoughts w/o feeling manipulated or looked down on or discouraged. I hope I have conveyed that attitude towards you, too! Thanks again for asking. I always want to be an open book!"